40 Shades of Grey

 September Flower Basket Block and Half-square triangle filler blocks

October Hexagon Flowers blocks

I am loving this quilt and it's challenges. I decided to make a second quilt using scraps and stash.

Yellow is my "40 Shades"

I am thinking of doing this one as a "Quilt as you Go"

Barns are done and 15 minutes to stitch

One barnyard block at a time is getting done.  Perhaps I will make good on at least one goal I had for this year.  Sometimes I prefer the Batik quilt and sometimes it is the country one.

Here is my 15 minutes to stitch report.  I missed a couple of months, so my percentage really went down.  That's ok though, I still want to play along.

I am linking up with:

UFO Busting
BOM's Away
Monday Making

November One Monthly Goal

I have been missing in action from the sewing room since I moved it upstairs this summer.   I love my new sewing room, but since I have been too busy to sew in it, I cannot remember where I put things!  lol .

My One Monthly Goal for November is Novemberish.  I think working on projects that fit the season are motivating.  I want to get my gourds pieced for my Turkey quilt.  The turkeys were made last November and yet they sit.

Barn yard is still in progress.

My friend and I finally made time to sew together a couple of times this week.  We made these birds earlier in the week and barns later.  I will post the barns soon.  We only have cats, pigs, and stars left.

I am making two quilts each in a different color scheme.

I am linking up with:

Wednesday wait loss

Can I get a whoop whoop?

Friday Foto Fun

Scrap Happy Saturday

Design Wall Discovery

My new sewing room needs a design wall, but I am reluctant to put one up because my nice painted wall looks so pretty.  I found this great idea for a design wall roller system that goes up and down as needed.  You can also velcro on a different quilt and fold up the old one as needed.  I love it.  I also love how she even added links to Amazon where you can purchase the exact hardware and supplies she used.

Deana: I am back!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since July.  I got busy painting my house and cleaning carpets and then school started. I have only just begun sewing again.

In August we had a little family retreat up to my sister's cabin.  It was so wonderful and peaceful.  Below are a few photos of our time there.

We all jammed together in a small cabin's living room.  It was cozy but fun.  Here are some photos of one end of the room and then the other.

The kids played outside.  They enjoyed burying each other in the sand box.  These are some of my nieces and nephews.

My sister, Jodi, who is on the right made this bow tie quilt.  She just brought fat quarters and levis up wanting to make a denim quilt.  My friend, Deb, who is on the left showed her how to make them.  The little girl in the front, Presley, used her mom's scraps to learn how to sew this trip.

Presley is shown below with her first sewing project!

I taught her how to sew while her mom had to run home for a couple of hours.  Yes, I am the guilty one who got her hooked.

Here is Presley with her Mom.

My sister-in-law, Felicity, made some super cute stars and nine patches.

I made some New York Beauty blocks and covered some bench cushions.

Mom has not sewn in some time.  She was thrilled to complete a quilt top made from blocks passed down to her.  Her great grandmother made the Sun Bonnet Sue blocks many years ago.  The grandma who made them was Isabelle Richardson Sessions Olson.  

 Mom wanted a queen sized quilt from just a few blocks.  There will be lots of room for pretty quilting.  I am pretty certain she will do it by hand.

We also got some family pictures one up there.

My grand babies were gathered for a photo with me.  I have one more little guy now who was born just two weeks later.  We didn't know pictures would be taken, so the little ones were just as they were.  It is too bad my husband could not be there for the photo.

The photo below is me and my siblings.

Here is my whole family...

Me and my sisters are shown below.  I am the oldest but the shortest.  None of us are very tall though.

Ann: 40 Shades of Grey month 3

The top block is a regular log cabin block with flowers. 

The bottom block is called "Court House Steps"

Ann: 40 Shades of Grey BOM

I am doing a new BOM called 40 Shades of Grey

It comes in a kit every month, So far I have 2 months.

Not sure I will do it this way again. I would rather just have all the material and cut it myself.

These four blocks are called Criss-Cross Blocks

They are 11" blocks. Working with diagonal blocks to the square center takes a bit of coordination, making sure each set is turned the correct direction. Two of the white fabrics have writing on them, so trying to decide if they should be directional or random was a challenge. 

This block is called Pineapple. It is 17" and was a different challenge. I like the way it turned out. 

And this block is called Lightening. It is 19" square and will be the center block  of the quilt.

I misread the cutting instructions and cut one of the sets of squares at 3 1/8 instead of 3 7/8, so I had to do some fussy matching. I think it turned out okay though. This is one reason I would like to have the whole piece of fabric instead of small pieces. I could not just cut new block.

Next month will be Log Cabin variations, so I will have to pay close attention to my cutting instructions.

Basting...

I have mostly been basting quilts the past few days.  I will quilt them on my sit down Juki Long arm gradually over the next few months. 

First on my quilting list is for grand baby boy.  I used a different backing that worries me.  It was the perfect size and color but isn't the normal cotton back I would use.  I hope I don't regret it.

I fully intended to put a cute car fabric on the back, but it wasn't quite big enough.  I have so much leftover fabric pieces I thought I would make another baby quilt out of them and put the cars on the back of it instead.

Memory Round Robin is basted now.

This one from a family round robin is nearly quilted.  Seriously an hour or so and I will have it.

School kid barns is small and shouldn't take long.  The blocks were a result of a class I taught at school.

My Dear Jane has been basted for many months.  It scares me a little bit to quilt because it is such a treasure with those 4 1/2" blocks.

I currently have my block lotto winner's quilt on the floor sizing it up to piece the back.  It will be basted next.

I am pretty excited to realize that I only have three more tops of mine ready to baste and one for my sister-in-law.  After many years of finished tops waiting to be quilted, this is quite an accomplishment!

Here are bindings read to go or ready to sew.

To Do Tuesday:

I hope this week to get one more basted, bindings made, and trucks quilted and bound.  With a little luck I will finish quilting Periwinkle as well.  It will depend on baby's arrival.

15 Minutes to Stitch Report

I am linking up today with:

BOMs Away
To Do Tuesday
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Moving it Forward Monday